I successfully passed the updated PMP exam last week and below I am sharing my experience in general, study guides and preparation I took which might prove to be useful for someone.

About the updated Exam:

*It took me almost 3 hours.
* Some tricky questions involved picking the “best” of many correct answers
* The technique of eliminating 2 answers first didn’t work in some cases…for some there were 3 correct answers to choose the “best” one from
* Many questions were direct.

My preparation:

* of course the pmzilla and pmkb community (silent lurker in the forum, listing hints, strong resources, exchange private msgs with passers)
* took trainings from PM Prepcast and PMChamp
* took an intense online PMP coaching from PMChamp (the updated 2011 exam - highly recommended)
* Rita's exams (very useful, highly recommended)
* PMBOK Guide (little read here, read there only) Im more into taking mock exams
* I listened to the PM Prepcast on drives to and from work

Insights:

* discipline and determination are rewarding buddies
* The PMBoK is a standard and framework, not best practices
* 3 days before the exam, take time to relax